


Twice the trouble

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [41]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Humor, Illnesses, Mentioned Past Miscarriages, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 20:19:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16374374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: Leo and Ren are well-adjusted adults that are happy with where they are in their lives. One of their kids is close to grown, and the other is making their way to double-digits in age. They've just bought a bigger home. Money is never an issue. Everything is working out just fine.Of course life is going to throw a wrench at them._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.





	Twice the trouble

Ren gets a backache that won't go away. It starts off mild enough, just some discomfort and pressure that comes and goes. Leo figures it's probably partly due to the new mattress they bought when they moved into this new house a few months back. The overly soft mattress may not be giving her enough back support. That, and while she's only 35, she's not quite as young as she once was. He can't keep contorting her into such odd positions, no matter how great it makes the sex. To combat the back pain, she tries sleeping on a firmer guest bed for a few nights, but there's no change. Leo also stops twisting her into a pretzel when they have sex, though that doesn't help either.

A month from when it started, the pain gets so bad that Ren can't sleep at night. It's taking a noticeable toll on her. She's usually in too much pain to do any of the housework or to cook, or to do most of the things she usually does as a stay-at-home mom. She can hardly stand straight most days. It comes with splitting headaches and vertigo now, along with her crying from the constant pain. No amount of heating pads or tylenol will soothe it. She's been getting massages twice weekly for over a month and a half, and though she feels more relaxed, the pain doesn't yield. It's a little more than concerning. Leo wants her to see a doctor about it but she's too goddamn stubborn. Flat out refuses.

Leo sighs as he tosses clothing onto the bed, listening to his wife's pained sounds as she struggles to sit herself up. "Renee, I know you have an aversion to hospitals and doctors, but when your health is steadily declining as it is now, I need you to suck it up and go."

"I need you to suck something," she bites out, slowly working a tank top on. She needs to go start breakfast before Leo gets the children up for school.

Another issue with it is that they've been trying to hide it from the kids. Don't want to worry them, not when there may be no reason to. But with her unable to do the most basic tasks about the house, the two start asking questions. Both Leo and Ren do their best to brush it off, so as not to worry them, but Leo's had an inkling that they can't hide it for much longer.

He turns out to be right. The questioning begins this particular morning as Ren lets out a pained keen over the pan of eggs, nearly dropping her spatula as she grips onto the oven handle. Reluctantly, Leo fills the children in. Ren tries to downplay it though she's still clearly in pain, but their daughter frowns.

Rachel, with the wisdom she's acquired in her fourteen years on Earth, suggests a chiropractor. Ren disagrees while trying to subtly rub her own lower back and mutters about them not being licensed doctors. The two women bicker back and forth about the logistics of chiropractors and different forms of licensing until Leo's ready to claw his own eyes out, while trading exasperated looks with his son.

When there's a long enough gap in argument for him to break in, Michael broaches the most logical thing Leo's heard all morning. "Mom, why don't you go to a real doctor then?"

After a moment, Rachel hums in agreement. It was an option she hadn't considered. Leo gives his wife a pointed look and she scowls. Changing the subject, she tells the kids to finish their breakfast so that Leo can take them to school already. They concede and she ends up back in the room before breakfast is even over, in too much pain to even sit up. Man, these kids suck. How dare the seven-year-old gang up on her like that.

When he returns from dropping them off, he strong-arms her into making an appointment with her primary care physician. She attempts to refuse, but he's not having it.

"Renee. If you don't do it, then I'll make one for you and forcibly put you in the car when the time comes. We both know you won't be able to stop me." He watches her jaw flex as she tries to come up with a good argument, and he figures she doesn't find one, seeing as she fails to reply. "Make the appointment."

Ren scowls, but reaches for her phone.

 

 

 

 

 

The appointment comes a week later and the back pain hasn't lessened in the slightest. The headaches are still present, as is the vertigo, and their doctor looks a little confused. It's an odd mix of symptoms for sure, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence that they all cropped up at around the same time. The doctor grills her on anything she can think of, and nothing adds up. Any changes in environment, any traveling outside of the country?

Ren suggests it might be the new mattress. If it were the new mattress then the other bed should have helped, Doc tells her. The twice-weekly massages Ren's been getting should be helping, seeing as there's not an ounce of tension in her back anymore. And while a bad back could cause things like vertigo and headaches, it doesn't seem likely in this case.

Doc has her stand and take off her shirt. She feels along Ren's spine for anything amiss, any unaligned vertebrae, a bulging disc, _anything_. Doc finds nothing of the sort and has Ren redress.

"Alright," Doc says, more to herself before turning her attention back to the couple. "I'm gonna put in an order for some imaging to make sure there's nothing going on with your back that I can't see or feel. Before I do that though, I have to ask; are you pregnant?" 

"Shouldn't be," Ren says, shaking her head. Next to her, Leo snorts at the idea.

"What sort of birth control are you two using?"

"Uh..." She gives a faintly awkward smile. "We're not, actually. I was told I couldn't have anymore. You remember how much trouble we had trying to conceive when we were trying for Michael."

Doc nods and rises from her stool. "Alright. I still have to give you a pregnancy test, but if it comes up negative I'll schedule that imaging for you." She leaves the room, leaving Leo and Ren in the silence.

They went through a lot of trouble to have their son. A lot of failed attempts. She had to take medication to give her a regular period and had to go through constant monitoring after she miscarried multiple times. She had to completely change her diet, start a small workout routine, then couldn't do anything when they put her on bed rest for the last few months of pregnancy. Even then, Michael was premature. Doctors told her that with the condition of her uterus, it was unlikely she'd ever get pregnant again, let alone carry anything to term a third time. One obstetrician told her it was a miracle she even managed to conceive Rachel, let alone Michael.

They went through a lot. _She_ went through a lot. Besides, they stopped trying for a third by the time she turned thirty-one. About four years ago. He decided that thirty-eight was too fucking old to be changing the diapers of both Michael- who still wasn't potty-trained at three- and a newborn at the same time.

A nurse brings a sterile cup a few minutes later and directs Ren to the restroom. Ren quietly grumbles to Leo when she returns, complaining about the damn cups and their bad shapes. She got pee on her hand, apparently. Leo isn't supposed to find that funny, it seems, because she swats him when he laughs. He tries to get her to laugh though, tries to keep her mind off of the possibility that something serious could be wrong.

Leo feels something is wrong when they're gone for too long. It only takes a moment to drip a few drops of urine onto those tests. He should know, he watched Renee do it dozens of times when they were trying to conceive. Three to five drops on the little circle. They even use the same type of test that the hospital does.

 

The knock is brief, and whoever it is doesn't wait for them to answer. Something icy creeps down his spine when Doc comes into the room, wearing an uncharacteristically bright smile. Then, that word comes out of her. A word that he never knew he could dread in such a way. That _stupid fucking word_ comes out of her mouth, and it's like time stands still in the office once it's out.

"Congratulations!" There's a brief pause before she continues. "Ms. Valant, your test came back positive!"

The doctor seems startled when Ren lets out a startled noise and Leo buries is face in his hands. A moment later, he makes an ugly noise that sounds something like a drawn-out groan.

"I'm _forty-fucking-two_ ," he muffles into his palms. "I'm too _old_ for another baby."

 

 

 

 

 

They decide they'll make it work. Ren feels like she may be tip-toeing on the line of 'too old', and Leo already thinks he's well past that line, but they want to do this. If the pregnancy is viable, that is. Ren can't bring herself to even think about terminating, not when they wanted to expand their family just four short years ago. Not when this is her last chance at a baby unless they adopt. If it isn't viable though, if it passes or they _have_ to terminate for whatever reason, it's game over. She's having her tubes removed to avoid another oops after she's no longer pregnant. This is literally her last chance.

With all the trouble they've had, the the amount of miscarriages she's had in the past, they keep it hidden from the kids for a while to avoid the emotional fallout if she miscarries. It's sort of hard to hide though. Ren's a little on the heavier side and now that her and Leo know, it's kind of obvious she's pregnant. The roundness isn't from her poor diet of junk food and sugar. Fuck, from how big she is already she probably got pregnant either right before or right after they moved into this new place. Since she doesn't have regular menstrual cycles it's impossible for her to gauge how far she is. But they've got an appointment for that. One to hear the heartbeat, and another one after that- if it has a heartbeat- to determine how many months she is.

"It's a good thing we bought this place when we did," Ren says on the drive to the OB's office.

"It is," Leo agrees.

The place is twice the size of their old place. Four bedrooms, a spacious kitchen. A living room, den, and a sitting room. Not to mention just how ridiculously big their master bathroom is. Almost as big as the bedroom itself. A nice thing about it is that even with this baby, they'll still have the guest room. Michael's room, baby's room, guest room. The garage came with what is essentially a small one-room apartment above it and Rachel has claimed it as her own. The whole house is big, it's in an even better neighborhood than the one they were in before, and in walking distance of Rachel and Michael's schools. Closer to Renee's brother too, in case they need the help. Things will be alright.

Ren's appointment is early enough in the morning that there aren't many women waiting. They get called back fairly quickly and she gets asked the normal questions. Is she a smoker, how much does she drink diet, family medical history, yadda yadda. Too soon, and yet not soon enough, the OB finally has Ren lay back on the exam table and shoves up her shirt to expose her belly, tugs down the waistband of her skirt for better access. Leo reaches and takes Ren's hand, hoping they don't find out the worst. The worst thing they can hear today is absolute silence.

"Goodness," the OB says with a laugh, getting a look at her stomach. "You're already so big. You said you don't know when you got pregnant?"

"Not a single clue." Ren tells her honestly. "Could have been before or after we moved, but at the latest that'd make me over five months. Hopefully it's way less than that. We need more time to prepare a nursery."

The doctor laughs and nods. "Feels like there's never enough time for the nursery, huh? We'll know for sure how far you are after the ultrasound in two weeks.

The OB squeezes a generous amount of cold gel on Ren's belly and gets the doppler ready. He can feel her tension, the same worry that they refused to vocalize on the way over. The worst thing they can hear is silence. She grips his hand as the OB touches the doppler to her belly, and it's all a game of waiting as she slowly moves it around, scanning for sound.

The heartbeat is loud and clear when she finally finds it, and Leo can't help but smile at his wife's teary, over-joyed expression. Stress melts from his shoulders as the sound echos in the tiny room. It's fast, loud, and strong, and everything they could have hoped for. It's been so long since he's been in a room like this, holding Renee's hand as they hear their little one's heartbeat for the first time. But something doesn't seem right. He can hear something else. It's like an echo, but out of sync with the heartbeat they're hearing. The nervousness creeps back in, and he glances at his wife. The OB notices the sound as well and moves the wand around, a small look of concern on her face. She moves the wand a little more and stops when she finds what the problem is.

His face falls, and Ren's hand becomes a vice-grip in his own.

Once more, a doctor's excited smile does nothing but make him sort of want to puke. Because echoing from the doppler is the unmistakable sound of a heartbeat, one that's out of sync with the one they just heard. Oh no. No. No, no, no no nononono-

"Congratulations!" he hears as he makes eye-contact with his wife, who's gone noticeably pale. "I think there's two in there!"

Leo was wrong. Absolutely wrong.  _That's_ the worst thing they could hear today.

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of one of my Sims games lmao.
> 
> For anyone who knows my normal pattern of angst, I assure you, they get a happy ending this time. They get two little boys that they name Patrick and Ryan.
> 
> Sorry I haven't been updating a lot. The laptop battery is busted and we've been having a lot of unexpected vet bills numbering in a few hundred dollars, so buying a new battery has been off the table and probably will be for a while. So pretty much all of my writing is off he table until we can get that fixed. But thank you all for being patient with me!
> 
> I'm always very appreciative of your comments and kudos, so don't be shy about leaving either of those!
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
